Sign, greeting card, display or like visual article

ABSTRACT

An article such as a sign, poster, advertisement, greeting card, display or like visual article, either flat or three dimensional, is hung on a horizontal support string. Said article has oppositely outstretched portions provided with simulated gripping means at the ends thereof. Freely depending strings are attached at their upper ends to said gripping means, by means invisible from the front side of the article. The portion of the support string between the gripping means is located at the back side of said article and is not visible from the front side of said article, thereby creating the illusion that the subject depicted at the front side of said article is holding onto string ends to keep from falling down, and said depending string ends look like ends of horizontal strings. The depending strings and the supporting strings are made of similar appearing string material. The article is hung on or otherwise mounted on the portion of the support string which is located at the backside of said article.

United States Patent [151 Bollbach et al. I

[451 July 3,1973

[ SIGN, GREETING CARD, DISPLAY OR LIKE VISUAL ARTICLE I [75] Inventors: James E. Bollbach, Freeport, L. 1.;

Jerome A. Moss, New York, both of N.Y. It

[73] Assignee: Jerome A. Moss, New York, NY.

[22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1972 211 App]. No.: 238,406

Primary ExaminerRobert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-Wenceslao J. Contreras A ttorney- Marvin Feldman and J. B. Felshin [5 7] ABSTRACT An article such as a sign, poster, advertisement, greeting card, display or like visual article, either flat or. three dimensional, is hung on a horizontal support string. Said article has oppositely outstretched portions provided with simulated gripping means at the ends thereof. Freely depending strings are attached at their upper ends to said gripping means, by means invisible from the front side of the article. The portion of the support string between the gripping means is located at the back side of said article and is not visible from the front side of said article, thereby creating the illusion that the subject depicted at the front side of said article is holding onto string ends to keep from falling down, and said depending string ends look like ends of horizontal strings. The depending strings and the supporting strings are made of similar appearing string material. The article is hung on or otherwise mounted on the portion of the support string which is located at the backside of said article.

11 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDJUL 3 I875 NEEIINZ NOE PAIENIEDJUL 3 mm SHEIZUFZ m ul fall.

SIGN, GREETING CARD, DISPLAY OR LIKE VISUAL ARTICLE Thisinvention relates to a string supported article,

such as a sign, poster, advertisement, greeting card, display or the like visual article either flat or three dimentional.

More specifically, this invention relates to an article wherein a figure or any subject matter is depicted on the front side of the article and appears to be hanging .by gripping means holding seperate supporting strings.

The above object, as well as other objects, will become apparent from a reading of the'following description, claims and accompanying drawings, wherein embodiments of the hanging article are described and illustra ted.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the article being supported;

FIG. 2 is the rear view of the article of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the article taken along line 3 -3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a combination article, illustrating a modification of this invention; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the article taken along line 55 of FIG. 4.

Refering to FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a hanging article 1 having on the front side thereof, pair of simulated gripping means 2a and 2b, depicted as a pair of gripping hands at the ends of outstretched arms 12a and 12b, respectively. Also shownis a pair of vertical hanging strings 3a and 3b depending from the simulated gripping means 2a and 2b, respectively. Also,

"shown is horizontal support string 5, the free ends thereof being tautly held to support members (not shown). Referring specifically to FIG. 2 there is shown the rear view of the hanging article of FIG. 1, wherein the vertical strings 3a and 3b are fixedly held to the back side of the article by means of pieces of tape 4a and 4b. The upper ends of said strings 3a and 3b may be fixed to said simulated grip means in any suitable manner. Other suitable affixing means are permissible including by way of example; glueing, tying, stapling or knotting of the strings and passing through a hole in the article.

In FIG. 2 and specifically in FIG. 3 there is shown a horizontal support string 5 passing across the back side of the article and engaging the article by engaging means 6a and 6b, specifically, flap members of the article folded back from upper ends of outstretched arm simulatingmembers 12a and 12b, respectively.

It will thus be seen that the portion of the support string 5 at the back side of the article is invisible from the front and the figure with outstretched arms appears to be holding onto a pair of string ends. The hanging strings 3a and 3b appear to be parts of string 5 at opposite sides of the figure or object. The illusion is thus created that if the figure let go of the string ends, it would FIGS. 4 and 5 depict another embodiment, wherein a pair of hanging members 6 and 7 of this invention are in hanging relationship with a third member 8. The hor-. izontal support string 9, passes across the back side of member 7 and is engaged by engaging means 10a and 10b (FIG. 5), similar to flaps 6a, and 6b. The string 9 then passes through engaging means 11a and 11b, which may comprise a pair of holes, at the ends of the third member 8. The centers of the pair of holes 11a and 11b, lie in line common to that part of the horizontal support string 9 which is at the back side of member 8. After passing rearwardly through hole 110 of member 8, the string 9 passes across the back side of member 8, and then passes forwardly through hole 11b and then passes across the back of member 6 in a manner similar to that of member 7.

The vertically depending strings 14a, 14b, 13a and 13b have ends fixedly held to the back side of respective simulated gripping handssimilar to gripping hands 2a and 2b, by means of an adhesive (not shown). Other suitable affixing means are permissible including by way of example glueing, stapling, tying and the like. The gripping hands may be any other simulated gripping means.

The free ends of the horizontal support string 9 are tautly held to supporting members (not shown) so as to hang articles 6, 7, 8 thereon. The parts of the articles below the horizontal support string are larger and heavier than the parts above said support string, so that the articles hang by gravity.

The member 1 and the members 6, 7, and 8 may be moved easily, longitudinally, of the support strings 5 and 9, respectively. A number of said members may be supported by one support string. The members need not be longitudinally movable but may be fixedly held to the support string by staples or other suitable attaching means. The article may be three-dimensional or may be essentially two-dimensional, such as a sheet.

The articles of this invention may be imprinted with figures or objects on both the front and the back but need not necessarily be so.

The simulated gripping'means as described hereinabove may be simulated gripping hands of a figure having human characteristics, but may be any other simulated grippingmeans, such' as, for example, a tail of a monkey, a wing of a bird, and the like.

In using the words support string, it is intended to include any filament, thread, rope or other flexible element.

The article of this invention may be constructed of 7 any suitable material such as by way of example, cardboard, plastic, paper, honey-combed materials and so forth.

The article of this invention is suitable for amusement, decorative, advertising purposes, greeting card, posters or other like uses.

The present invention is not to be limited to the applications and constructions hereinabove described and shown in the accompanying drawings, but numerous modifications of same are possible within the scope of the present invention, and the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

' 1. An article comprising a member having a front side and a back side and a pair of simulated gripping means visible from the front side, in combination with a pair of vertical strings, and means to attach one end of each of said pair of strings to one of said pair of simulated gripping means respectively so that said pair of strings freely depend from said pair of simulatedgripping means, horizontal support means having a portion disposed behind said member and behind said pair of simulated gripping means, and being invisible from the front of said member, and mounting means at the back of said member engaging said support means to hangably support said member.

2. The article of claim 1 wherein said support means comprises a horizontal string adapted to be anchored at its outer ends. 7

3. The article of claim 1, wherein said front side comprises a figure depicting human characteristics and said pair of simulated gripping means is in the form of simulated gripping hands.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein said engaging 'means comprises a pair of folded back flaps extending from upper portions of said member slidably engaging said support means.

5. The combination of claim 1, said front side comprising a figure simulating means with outstretched arms and hands at the ends of said arms, said hands comprising said simulated gripping means.

6. The combination of claim 5, said mounting means comprising a portion of the member extending from the folded down rearwardly from said arms and slidably engaging said support means, said support means comprising a taut horizontal string.

7. Anarticle comprising in combination; a pair of members, each member thereof having a front side and a back side, each member having on the front side thereof, a pair of simulated gripping means, in combination with a pair of vertical strings, one end of each thereof fixedly held to the back of one of said simulated gripping means so as to depend freely from said simulated gripping means, a third member, located between said pair of members, a horizontal support string, and means for mounting said pair of members and said third member on said horizontal support string, with portions of said support string lying at the back sides of said pair of members between and behind said pair of the simulated gripping means thereof, and at the back side of said third member, and hangably supporting said pair of members, and each of said simulated gripping means is oriented so as to appear to simultaneously grip said horizontal support string and a depending vertical string, said horizontal support string and said depending vertical string being mutually disposed in relation to said simulated gripping means so as to appear from the front side to be the same string.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said support string passes through two holes, at the ends of said third member the centers of said holes lying in a horizontal line common to said horizontal string.

9. The combination of claim 8, wherein said each of said pair of said members is a figure depicting human characteristics and wherein each of said pair of simulated gripping means is a simulated pair of gripping hands on said figure.

10. The combination of claim 9 wherein said third member is a display sign.

11. An article comprising a member having a front side and a back side and a pair of simulated gripping means visible from the front side, in combination with a pair of vertical strings, and means invisible from the front side of said member, to attach one end of each of said pair of strings to one of said pair of simulated gripping means respectively so that said pair of strings freely depend from said pair of simulated gripping means, horizontal support means having a portion disposed behind said member, said portion of said support means being invisible from the front of said member, and means for mounting said member on said support means, said mounting means comprising means at the back of the member engaging said horizontal support means, wherein said support means comprises a horizontal string adapted to be anchored at its outer ends, said horizontal string comprising a single string passing across the entire back side of said member and horizontally behind said pair of simulated gripping means, said string hangably supporting said member.

*"a r sic 

1. An article comprising a member having a front side and a back side and a pair of simulated gripping means visible from the front side, in combination with a pair of vertical strings, and means to attach one end of each of said pair of strings to one of said pair of simulated gripping means respectively so that said pair of strings freely depend from sAid pair of simulated gripping means, horizontal support means having a portion disposed behind said member and behind said pair of simulated gripping means, and being invisible from the front of said member, and mounting means at the back of said member engaging said support means to hangably support said member.
 2. The article of claim 1 wherein said support means comprises a horizontal string adapted to be anchored at its outer ends.
 3. The article of claim 1, wherein said front side comprises a figure depicting human characteristics and said pair of simulated gripping means is in the form of simulated gripping hands.
 4. The article of claim 1, wherein said engaging means comprises a pair of folded back flaps extending from upper portions of said member slidably engaging said support means.
 5. The combination of claim 1, said front side comprising a figure simulating means with outstretched arms and hands at the ends of said arms, said hands comprising said simulated gripping means.
 6. The combination of claim 5, said mounting means comprising a portion of the member extending from the folded down rearwardly from said arms and slidably engaging said support means, said support means comprising a taut horizontal string.
 7. An article comprising in combination; a pair of members, each member thereof having a front side and a back side, each member having on the front side thereof, a pair of simulated gripping means, in combination with a pair of vertical strings, one end of each thereof fixedly held to the back of one of said simulated gripping means so as to depend freely from said simulated gripping means, a third member, located between said pair of members, a horizontal support string, and means for mounting said pair of members and said third member on said horizontal support string, with portions of said support string lying at the back sides of said pair of members between and behind said pair of the simulated gripping means thereof, and at the back side of said third member, and hangably supporting said pair of members, and each of said simulated gripping means is oriented so as to appear to simultaneously grip said horizontal support string and a depending vertical string, said horizontal support string and said depending vertical string being mutually disposed in relation to said simulated gripping means so as to appear from the front side to be the same string.
 8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said support string passes through two holes, at the ends of said third member the centers of said holes lying in a horizontal line common to said horizontal string.
 9. The combination of claim 8, wherein said each of said pair of said members is a figure depicting human characteristics and wherein each of said pair of simulated gripping means is a simulated pair of gripping hands on said figure.
 10. The combination of claim 9 wherein said third member is a display sign.
 11. An article comprising a member having a front side and a back side and a pair of simulated gripping means visible from the front side, in combination with a pair of vertical strings, and means invisible from the front side of said member, to attach one end of each of said pair of strings to one of said pair of simulated gripping means respectively so that said pair of strings freely depend from said pair of simulated gripping means, horizontal support means having a portion disposed behind said member, said portion of said support means being invisible from the front of said member, and means for mounting said member on said support means, said mounting means comprising means at the back of the member engaging said horizontal support means, wherein said support means comprises a horizontal string adapted to be anchored at its outer ends, said horizontal string comprising a single string passing across the entire back side of said member and horizontally behind said pair of simulated gripping means, said string hangably supporting said member. 